


i'll give you the sun

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Astrology, F/M, Gemma and Harry are Twins, Harry is 17-18, Homophobia, Homosexuality, M/M, Niall is 18-19, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-15 01:00:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9212525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Niall's the charismatic boy next door who appears every couple months or so with his quirky hat, meteorite bag and stories about almost every star constellation to exist, and Harry finds that it's really hard not to fall in love with him, really.(in other words, an I'll Give You The Sun AU, except it's entirely in Harry's point of view)





	

**Author's Note:**

> based on the book "i'll give you the sun." by jandy nelson, although not all the scenes are actually in that book for anyone who hasn't read it yet :)
> 
> i'm pretty sure artist!harry and stargazer!niall is what everyone lives for :')

Harry – 17½ years old.

 

_Snap_

“Fuck” he says as the pencil snaps just when he’s about to go over the interior of the eye again. This is the third time he’s sharpening it, and this time he’s unsure of whether it’s the pencil’s fault or the sharpener’s or his own.

 

He angrily shoves it into the sharpening hole and sharpens and sharpens till it’s finally point and clean, and blows at the top even though there’s nothing to really blow away. He’s always been one for more of a dramatic effect in life, with or without people to watch him as he does. The pencil shaving’s container is nearly full, and Harry despises the dark lead staining his white bedding when the top opens up due to the container being too full, despises his mother’s ranting about how ‘his artwork’s meant to be done on his desk and nowhere else’ so he goes over to the tiny metal rubbish bin next to his table and empties out all the shavings, before resting against the comfort of his equally white feather pillow, proceeding to draw the interiors of the eye he’s drawing, which he wasn’t able to do so earlier.

 

The weather isn’t all too bad outside, but then again it never really is in Holmes Chapel, so Harry decides to take his pack of pencils and his easer and his sharpener and his imagination outside by the forest just to feel at ease. It also saves him from possibly getting in trouble with his mum later on.

 

The grass isn’t too green but it still smells fresh, and there’s marigolds growing in a corner – Harry wonders who planted the seeds, because the marigolds don’t seem to stretch far across the land – and notices that there are more trees here since the last time he came. It smells of fresh flowers and dew, seeing as it’s only about 7 a.m and the sun barely longed to shine at this time during the winter. Harry finds a flat surface under a fairly large tree which doesn’t seem to be dripping with tiny droplets of water (he doesn’t really care if his clothes get spoilt, he just doesn’t want the happy eye he’s been drawing to look like it’s been crying from everywhere but it’s tear glands.)

 

“Hey pussy!”

 

_Oh no. Nononon-_

“Bubble, whatcha got there?” How hadn’t Harry heard their footsteps the entire time? He closes his eyes and shuts his book, and pictures a really big car – a truck even – running Jaden and Keith over, and over, and over again.

 

_Self Portrait: Dreams aren’t reality._

 

They’re by his side in almost seconds, and Harry has a hand grasping onto his book, the pencil feeling like it’s burning the hand he’s holding it in. He can hear them laugh and chuckle, can feel them _breathe_ , and slowly opens his eyes to the two boys who have been calling him (clearly not by his real name, by now Harry’s pretty sure they’ve forgotten what his real name is), and they grin, which obviously didn’t seem to welcome Harry at all.

 

“Say,” the older one – Jaden – calls, and points at the one thing Harry wants them to forget, the one thing he wants to vanish, to disappear into thin air and out of their minds and his as if it didn’t exist, thinks it might if he grips it hard enough, knows it doesn’t work when the flesh on his palm feels like it’s going to rip apart because the book is _still there_ and, “that’s a pretty fancy book you’ve got there, Harry” _So he does remember his name,_ “mind letting me see what’s in it?”

 

Harry’s head starts to shake involuntarily, almost makes it look like he’s having a seizure, but the two boys towering over him, only so because he’s sitting down and they’re standing up, don’t really seem to be fazed.

 

“Please just leave it alone Jaden, I-“ They do the opposite however, and proceed to take book out of Harry’s hands, and their hands are grasping the cover as they scan the book cover for any marks or labels.

 

 _“Harry’s Perception of Life & So On.”_ Keith mimics a high-pitched tone, and snickers, opening the spiraled book, and looks through the pages. Harry feels beads of sweat rolling down his neck and his arms and he feels like he’s suffocating in the outdoors because Jaden and Keith have his sketchbook and Harry knows they’ll hate what is in his sketchbook and they tend to destroy anything they hate and- _No._

 

“What the fuck is _this_?” Keith screeches, and Harry feels his blood run cold when Keith flips to Harry’s sketch of  a naked Michaelangeo (pretty fucking detailed too, if you asked me), and he just wants to die because he thinks it would be so much easier compared to having to be criticized by people who know nothing about art and don’t really want to know anything about art either.

 

“That’s Michaelangelo.” Harry says, and he’s standing up now, trying to retrieve his sketchbook when two arms grab two of his own and hold them back, his arms now pressing into Jaden’s chest. Keith runs his tongue on the roof of his mouth, clicks it against his teeth twice too, and looks at Harry with disgust in his eyes.

 

“Yeah, I figured. Heard he was _gay._ ” He spits out, and proceeds to rip the page out of his book, crumbles it onto the floor where Harry once sat, and Harry wishes his mom or someone were nearby so he could call for help.

 

He was. His mom wrote stories on the theory of Michaelangelo being a homosexual, not that Keith would know anything on Michaelangelo whatsoever. It doesn’t matter, the page he spent about 5 hours working on was done and dusted, and there was nothing Harry could do about it

 

_Self Portrait: Funeral in a Forest._

Keith looks through the next photo and the next and the next and Harry feels like he’s dying a little inside every time Keith finds a naked male and rips it apart and stomps it onto the floor. Harry can’t help but stare at his defined muscles as he does so, thinking about how strong Jaden’s hold on him and how warm and slick his hands feel on his and he imagines grasping out of them and-

 

_Fuck no. Harrym has a boner._

He’s sporting a boner for all the right things and although he _despises_ Jaden and Keith he doesn’t despise their fit bodies and the hard-on in the confines of his jeans doesn’t seem to be going away and if Keith looked down even for a millisecond he’d be able to see the boner he’s sporting.

 

“Jaden take a look at this,” Keith says, and _fuck,_ he’s already seen the nude male drawings he’s done, and knows that if he goes even one page ahead Harry’s life is ruined, knows that there’s no way he can get out of this, “you won’t _believe_ what homo here has dra-“

 

And that’s when Keith spots Harry’s boner, and his eyes widen, dropping the sketchbook in the process. Harry wonders what would’ve been more embarrassing.

 

“Actually, nevermind. I think we’re done for now.” Jaden lets go of him and the first thing he does is sigh in relief and run to pick up the sketch book before the dew still falling from leaves forty-five minutes later completely ruins it.

 

Jaden looks confused but nevertheless listens to Keith, and follows Keith as they walk away from Harry and the mess they’ve made, not only on the ground.

 

+

 

There’s a boy at the top of the roof every night, and Harry really, _really_ knows he shouldn’t been looking at him but he also really, _really_ wants to, because not a lot of people like to sit on the top of their roofs and Harry’s always had a think for strangely beautiful people.

 

So Harry takes his binoculars out and points them at the strange boy on a somehow strange roof and notices he has a leather bag slung around his right shoulder, and  he has a telescope in his hand which he’s using to look around and – _oh,_ he’s looking right back at Harry, and he’s smiling – grinning even – and he feels dread rise up in his throat because he’s been caught and mysterious boy knows that he exists and the world just seems to love playing tricks on him, every single time.

 

The boy hurls something at Harry through the open window, and Harry reaches an arm out to catch it, the item feeling hot and heavy in his hands. A rock?

 

“Nice catch mate!” The guy yells and smiles, and even the freezing cold night seems to have become a little bit warmer with the intensity of blondie’s smile.

 

The ‘secretly’ staring at the mysterious boy goes on for quite some time, but Jaden and Keith don’t seem to be a problem anymore, or at least Jaden, for that matter. It’s not until one day when Harry’s about to go home that mystery boy with his leather bag and rich looks, looks at him and smiles, before shoving his hands into his pockets.

 

“Heya,” He sounds shy, though he probably isn’t as such, and Harry instantly notes the Irish accent that he couldn’t from when he threw him a rock, which Harry still doesn’t know the purpose of, “I don’t exactly know the woods around here, I’m rather new, always only been here for the summers’, me, and I was wondering if you wanted to show me around?”

 

The boy has these beautiful blue eyes that Harry knows he’ll never find the right colours too, because they hold all the colours and none of the colours all at once and Harry never knew that shades of blue had shades of _redgreenyellowredgreenyellow_ too.

 

They’re walking and walking and walking and there’s always been a certain sense of beauty to the woods but now there’s nature _and_ there’s beauty and Harry’s never felt so beautiful just by being surrounded by beauty in his entire life.

 

“What’s your name, by the way? Honestly, you look like a Robert, or a Peter if you ask me but-“

 

“It’s Harry Styles.” He quickly responds, because the boy is slowly taking his breath away with every word he utters and Harry just had to say something before the beautiful boy with the beautiful eyes and a beautiful eyes killed him without really doing anything. The boy grins and nods his head.

 

“Yeah. You look like a Harry, too.” The boy says.

 

“And your name?” Harry asks, and he’s pretty sure he’s going to love his name no matter what it is.

 

“It’s Niall. Horan.”

 

A perfect name for a perfect boy, and Harry’s pretty sure the boy doesn’t even realize it.

 

They keep walking further and further into the forest, and Harry glances at the place where Jaden and Keith threw his art onto the floor, cringes, and moves on.

 

They reach a small, lush lake, another one of Harry’s favorite places to come to when he wants to sit, draw or just take in the beauty that is Earth right before him.

 

Niall’s grin widens as they sit down, hands hitting past jagged rocks and cautiously looking out for any cockroaches or beetles creeping and crawling away.

 

“This place looks,” Niall pauses, smiles, “ _Amazing._ ”

 

Harry grins widely, and then drops one of the tiny rocks into the water, watching it sink lower and lower and lower and then furrows his eyebrows and points at Niall’s ruined, yet beautiful leather bag, “What’s in there?”

 

Niall turns a pretty shade of pink and red and orange – Harry can picture painting the apples of his cheeks with bright and mellow colours to match the innocence and youth in Niall’s indescribable eyes – and opens up his bag to reveal – _rocks?_

 

“I know what you’re thinking,” Niall says, slowly taking out a couple, letting them lie next to the water, and Harry is only now noticing how different they look from the rocks by the river, “but there aren’t normal rocks, Haz – can I call you Haz?” Harry nods and smiles, “They’re meteorites. Find em sometimes when I walked in the woods in Mullingar – I’m Irish if ya haven’t noticed.” He laughs.

 

Harry wants him to laugh forever and ever till the sound of Niall laughing is the only sound he can hear when he closes his eyes, or feel thrumming in his veins, or sense when he hears his heart beat.

 

“Oh how romantic!” _Shit did I just say that out loud?_ , Harry wonders, but then realizes that Niall wasn’t the one who had said that. The voice was much more gruff, and far more taunting and-

 

Keith.

 

Harry turns to Niall as if mentally telling him to get up and run, but Niall just raises and eyebrow and stays put, which makes Harry want to scream because Keith is right here and Keith knows he can do anything to Harry and Harry just wants to run away.

 

“Who do we have here, Bubble?” Keith says, and my, the sunlight really does make him look a lot bigger, and _my oh my_ does Harry just want to run away – with Niall of course.

 

Harry prays that Keith does nothing to humiliate Niall, because Harry doesn’t know he’ll be able to live with the fact that someone as nice and charming as him could possibly be embarrassed, or completely dislike Harry. Harry wants to cry and he doesn’t know which of the two situations would be worse.

 

Keith looks at Niall and motions at him with his head, “Nice hat.” He snickers.

 

“Thank you.” Niall replies, not fazed at all by Keith’s tone or poise or being. Keith’s eyes widen slightly, but he regains his composure quickly, and sends Niall one of the fakest smiles Harry has ever seen.

 

“So you homos here to make out or something? Did I intrude on your cheesy moment?” His tone lacks happiness although that’s the only tone he says it in, and Harry feels his hands ball up into fists though he’s not entirely sure how his fist looks, in everyone else’s eyes.

 

“I’ll give you a change to tell both me and Harry that you’re sorry.” Niall says, his voice scarily clam, Harry’s pretty sure it makes Keith internally shiver. Niall may not be as tall as Keith or as buff, but if looks could kill, Keith would be 12 feet under, if not 6.

 

“Apologize for what? Homo?” Keith laughs, and Niall’s eyes are now a dark shade of blue, if that shade is even humanly possible to achieve. There is a vein popping on the side of his neck, and Harry’s sure he would be able to feel Niall’s rapidly increasing pulse if he touched his fingers to it.

 

“Sorry to break it to you, but it’s not as funny as you think it is.” Niall says, and shrugs, as if to show Keith that he  is unaffected by his taunting tone. If Harry were Keith he would have given up and gone home, but he isn’t Keith, and Keith is here to stay.

 

Keith just laughs and mumbles an “ _Oooo I’m so scared.”_ , which causes Niall to scoff and fold his arms over his chest.

 

“Well then I can’t be blamed for what’s about to happen next.”

 

And with that even Harry turns around to look at Niall, eyebrows raised and wondering just what the fuck Niall is up to. It isn’t until Niall’s reaching for the flap of his leather bag that Harry realizes what’s happening and _oh no, this simply cannot be good._

 

And then Niall’s tossing out meteorites faster than a machine gun, and his hands spinning and spinning as they hit Keith one by one, causing the boy to wince and flinch everytime they touch him.

 

“You’re fucking craz- _stop it!_ ” Keith yowls, and puts his arms in front of his face for defense.

 

“That’s funny,” Niall says, and Harry wonders why Niall doesn’t sound even slightly out of breath as he’s throwing so man meteorites, “because I don’t think that me or Harry got the apologies we asked for – the apologies we deserve.” And he’s seething with every throw, the next throw seeming stronger than the last.

 

“I- I’m sorry.” Keith stutters out, but Niall simply shakes his head and keeps throwing the tiny rock like objects, and it looks like a shower of meteorites everywhere, moving so fast you barely have the time to see them before they’re on the ground.

 

“And one for Harry too, don’t think I heard that one.” Niall stops throwing the rocks, and Keith nods, gulps, and says, “I’m sorry, Harry, and you too-”

 

“Niall.”

 

“Yeah, Niall. I’m sorry.”Keith says, already retreating before he is out of sight. Harry tires his best to stifle a laugh as Niall packs away all the rocks form outer-space and sends Harry a toothy grin.

 

+

 

“Who is he?” Harry’s sister Gemma says one night when Harry’s busy smiling at Niall out the window, who seems to be showing him something he found and laughing, his cheeks a bright red even in the darkest of nights.

 

“He’s no one.” And Gemma, being his twin with slightly yet noticeable differences in their looks, grins and says, “He sure doesn’t look like no one. What’s he like?”

 

Harry shrugs and turns back to where Niall stands, and gives him an apologetic smile, and turns back to Gemma, “He’s like anybody.”

 

Gemma’s smile only grows wider, revealing dimples, a trait that the both o f them luckily possess.

 

“But you don’t like anybody, now do you? I want to meet him.”

 

Now _that_ cannot happen. He won’t let Niall fall into his sister’s hole like everyone else has since she joined the wrong crowd of friends and the wrong crowd of every single thing possible.

 

“N-no you aren’t-”

 

“Harry, the lighting is perfect, you have to come out now! It’s an intergalactic gorge fest up there!” Harry smiles and opens the window to jump out of it when Gemma, fucking Gemma Styles decides to stick her unrealistic face and unrealistic self out the window and send Niall a bright smile.

 

“Hi, I’m Gemma, Harry’s twin.” And Niall’s eyes widen and Harry’s heart breaks as she watches the queen bee charm everyone in her path with nothing but that fucking flirtatious tone that Harry has no idea where she got from.

 

“Harry’s twin? Didn’t really picture you guys to look this similar really.” Harry’s heart breaks even further. _So he’s been picturing what his sister looks like too?_

 

“Anyways,” Niall continues, “I was going up to see Gemini, The Twins, with your brother and you’re welcome to join if you want.” Niall shrugs and Harry elbows Gemma in the ribs and sends Niall a thin lipped smile. Gemma takes the hint and backs away, her flirtatious grin not yet escaping the framework of her lips.

 

“That won’t be necessary. Gemma has stuff to do.” Harry says, before jumping out the window to join Niall, and Gemma waves before slamming the window shut.

 

Niall starts laughing and slings an arm around Harry’s shoulder. Harry tries not to think too much of it. “Mate you were literally _aching_ for her to leave weren’t ya.” And all Harry can do is smile to calm the rapid beating in his heart.

 

They take the ladder up to the roof, where Niall already seems to have his telescope and an air mattress ready, and Harry doesn’t see anything yet but he’s pretty sure he’ll be able to see all the stars in the galaxy if Niall showed them to him.

 

The two boys lay down, and Niall looks at the stars for a bit though Harry’s pretty sure all the stars lie in his eyes and then Niall’s letting out a delighted gasp and smiling at Harry, saying, _“I found it.”_

Niall points a pale finger to a set of stars in the sky and waits for Harry to see the set of stars that look different from the others, and he does, and they’re bright and they’re beautiful.

 

“It’s the Twins.” And although Harry has no idea what Niall is going on about but he doesn’t mind listening to him as long as he stays by Harry’s side.

 

“I’m not all that great with the stars, except for drawing them really.” Harry confesses, and he swears he sees Niall’s eyes pop out due to how wide they grow. His jaw hands low and his lips are a bright pink and Harry thinks that maybe if he wasn’t such a wimp he’d surge forward and kiss him.

 

“So you’re telling me that you come to the woods almost all the time, but barely take time to look at the stars and wonder why the fuck they’re placed in such a way?” Harry nods his head yes, “I can’t believe this. Okay, let me tell you about the Twins then.”

 

“So there were these two brothers,” Niall begins, “they were names Castor and Pollux. The two brothers were inseparable, although Pollux was immortal and Castor wasn’t.”

 

“Eventually when Castor died, Pollux became so lost and depressed because he missed his twin brother. He begged his father – Zeus – to do something, and Zeus agreed to making Castor immortal as long as they turned into one of the stars, which we now call the constellation Gemini.” Niall whispers the end, and Harry is fascinated by how much people thought and believed in these stories, and how beautiful they sounded. Harry mumbles a ‘wow’, looking at the constellation high in the sky.

 

“You see, people kind of figured it was Gemini as one half of this constellation was originally named Castor, and the other one Pollux. It’s hard to miss a constellation like this if you’ve researched it, really.”

 

“I’d do that.” Harry finds himself saying.

 

“It must be the twin thing, innit? Reckon I’d share my immortality with my twin brother or sister or whatever they want themselves to be too.”

 

Harry wasn’t talking about Gemma, but he lets it slide.

 

+                      

 

“Cute hat.” Gemma’s friend Rachel tells Niall one day. Niall beams and gives it to her and tells her it looks good on her. Harry is definitely not dying inside.

 

Him and Gemma continue to grow apart ever since that night, and slowly Niall’s friends with Gemma’s friends and Harry eventually becomes friends with them too which results in Gemma saying, “You stole Mom, and now you’re stealing my friends too?” Because Gemma and Harry’s mom have never been very close and it burns at the back of Harry’s mind to know that this is affecting her but he doesn’t care.

 

If Gemma had the right to change from a carefree butterfly to a raging hornet Harry has the right to go from drawingandbeingalone to drawingandhavingfriends, no matter who’s friends they are.

 

+

 

There’s a party.

 

And it’s Harry’s first ever party and he isn’t sure if he’s happy or excited or nervous but Niall’s going to be there because he’s leaving for boarding school tomorrow and that’s all that really matters to him.

 

The place smells like alcohol and sweat and – citrus? – and Harry doesn’t really like the feeling of being trapped in a sweaty room with sweaty people.

 

There’s Drake blaring from the stereo ( Harry’s more of an Rolling Stones/The Beatles kind of guy, it makes him wonder what kind of music Niall is into) and everyone’s shouting out lyrics about sex and drugs and women. Harry doesn’t like either.

 

After making sure Niall isn’t here, Harry adventures upstairs, where a girl gives him a red solo cup of beer because she feels he ‘needs it’, and Harry starts to look in one of the rooms to make sure he isn’t in any of them.

 

He comes across a room in the centre of the hallway and he notices it’s slightly ajar, and peers in because he’s almost certain the people in there will be far too into each other to notice Harry there.

 

There’s a guy sitting on a loveseat, and has a girl on top of him, and they’re pressing lips feverishly and the guy’s moving his head like he can’t kiss her fast or hard enough and then Harry’s eyes widen when he realizes something. An arm slings around the guys waist and the girl’s hand isn’t a girl’s hand at all – they belong to a guy. Harry’s body begins to shake and when he tilts his head a little to the left he sees the other male’s strong features that go along with the other’s, and he’s never seen two guys kiss with so much want, with so much _hunger,_ before.

 

Harry moves away and presses himself against the wall, doesn’t understand why he feels tears spring to his eyes even though he’s so far away from feeling sad.

 

He hears a door creak open, and snaps his head so quick he thinks it might just break. Xanthie, another one of Gemma’s (ex)friends, walks out, and  Harry feels terrible, and feels guilt on top of it for feeling so.

 

Xanthie sends him a big smile, and says, “Oh, we’ve been looking for you!” Harry doubts it really.

 

“Where is everyone?” Harry asks her, to divert his attention from the fact that he just saw two insanely attractive guys making out. They certainly didn’t kiss him but for some reason it does sure feel like it.

 

“They’re downstairs. They sent me upstairs to look for you.” He nods and puts his shaky hand into his pocket, to try and make it stop. Her eyebrows furrow.

 

“You okay?” She asks, and Harry thinks of some way to save the situation, realizing how bad of a liar he really is.

 

“Yeah, just the beer.”

 

Xanthie giggles, she _fucking_ giggles (she never does that, one of the reason why Harry likes her the most out of the hornet girls) and clinks her red cup with his and says, “Me too.”

 

Xanthie isn’t a giggler. She’s quiet and serious and a thousand years old, talking to her feels like sitting in a lonely church. Harry admires that about her.

 

“C’mon then, we’ve been waiting for you. Well, at least I have.” She giggles again and Harry tries not to roll his eyes as she leads him down the stairs to where the rest of the hornet girls lie, and Niall’s right beside Rachel. Harry thinks fumes are about to explode out his ears and eyes and the place where Rachel sits burns under the gaze the fumes from his eyes send. Harry spots Gemma now talking to Xanthie, laughing along to something she must’ve said.

 

“I love you.’’ He says to Niall, only it comes out  , “Hey.”

 

“So damn much.” He says back, only it comes out “Dude.”

 

Rachel gets up and goes to what seems to be the centre of everyone’s attention and says, “Okay guys, it’s time to pick people’s name out the hat. Harry, you in?” Harry nods.

 

“Alright then, let’s play.” People cheer, “Girls pick.”

 

As soon as the girls are out of sight, Harry nudges Niall and says, “Let’s go.” Niall doesn’t respond, so he tries again, “Let’s get out of here, there’s a window right there. I’m sure they won’t mind.”

 

“I don’t want to go , okay?” Niall says, and he sounds irritated, “S’just a stupid game. I’ll get it over with. Go if you want to.”

 

Harry thinks Niall must really want to play if he’s so persistent on staying.

 

He realizes that Rachel is the one fixing who goes into the room together, and knows that Rachel has a thing for Niall which means Niall must want to be with Rachel. The realization drains the blood out of Harry. All the colours seem to have disappeared.

 

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you have all been anticipating.” Rachel smiles and Niall sits straight and Harry just wants to _leave._

 

Harry zones out while the first few sets of names are being called out, going in the order Daniel and Claire, Valerie and Oliver, and then Harry zones out until someone comes and pokes his shoulder.

 

“You’re up. Xanthie got you.” Harry walks into the room, and sees Xantie brushing her curly brown hair to reveal her chocolate coloured skin, and  Harry reckons if he wasn’t so hooked on boys with blue eyes and boys with cheeky grins and boys in general he may have fallen for her.

 

“We don’t have to o anything if you don’t want to, Harry,” and she’s an amazing person too, “I need to know that this is okay.” Harry feels woozy ( he may have snuck a couple more cups of beer into his system ) and it’s too dark for him to think straight.

 

“No I- I want to.” Harry says, and Xanthie nods and Harry really feels bad for mentally breaking a girl as beautiful as her. Knows he doesn’t feel anything for her when all he can think about is _NiallNiallNiall._

Slowly and gently Xanthie presses her lips to his, and they’re soft – too soft, they’re petal people. Her lips press against his once more, but Harry can’t even think straight because he knows there’s 420 seconds in seven minutes and he’s pretty sure only twenty seconds are over which leaves him with 400 and they aren’t even close to being done yet. Oh fucking fuck.

 

Harry’s mind feels like it’s about to go slack. He has absolutely no idea how to react to Xanthie kissing him. He knows normal teenage boys enjoy stuff like this, but then again when has Harry ever been normal?

 

And then all of a sudden, Niall rises out of a dark part of Harry’s mind and guides Harry’s hands closer, keeps whispering _HarryHarryHarry_ in that tone he’s dreamt of so many times and then Harry’s pressing her closer, bringing their chests closer, sliding his tongue into her warm mouth..

 

He doesn’t even realize what’s going on until the time goes off and the lights turn on, and Rachel’s looking at them with a devilish grin and taps at her watch once, twice, and then, “Time’s up lovebirds, off you go.”

 

Xanthie walks like her legs are made of jelly and Harry bends down to make sure he isn’t sporting a boner. They both head outside and flush under the gazes of older guys and girls alike.

 

Harry goes back and sits next to Niall, mentally apologizing because he didn’t kiss Xanthie, he kissed _Niall,_ and as he mentally says those apologies he puts his head in his hands.

 

Harry’s heart stops when he hears Niall’s name get called out, and he’s being escorted into the room, not by Rachel, but by Gemma.

 

His _sister._

“No!” Harry wants to scream, only he doesn’t. He wants to run up to the timer and smash it to pieces like Gemma and Niall have smashed his heart, but he doesn’t do that either.

 

Harry can’t think or breathe because Gemma and Niall went into the room together.

 

Gemma and Niall are going to _kiss_ each other. Have their mouths and hands and bodies on each other and Harry can’t believe that the boy he spent his entire time looking at the stars with has robbed them all to give them to his sister.

 

Harry staggers and stumbles out of the house and runsrunsruns till he finds home, and sneaks in till he finally reaches his room and shuts the door, lets his tears fall one by one. He imagines a sad song playing in the back to match the scene going on right now, something around the lines of M83.

 

Gemma did this on purpose. Gemma hated that Harry had their mom and the hornets and she was taking everything he had to show her how it felt.

 

If Gemma was drowning, he’d hold her head underwater.

 

He goes into his blanket and waits until it’s been an hour and a half and Gemma isn’t home. He hopes for Niall to come and tap at his window and save him.

 

That doesn’t happen.                                

 

+

 

Spaceboy: _Thinking about you._

Rapunzel: _Me too._

Spaceboy: _Come here right this minute._

Rapunzel: _Haven’t perfected my teleporting._

Spaceboy: _I’ll get on it._

 

They’re in love. They’re so deeply and madly in love that they probably wouldn’t even notice if he blew up the entire world.

 

How could she do this? How could he?

 

Harry does every worst thing possible to her. He dunks her toothbrush into the toilet seat every morning.

 

He adds white vinegar to her water.

 

Rips out pages from her notebooks.

 

Throws notes from her to their mom in the trash.

 

They grow further away from each other by the second, longer than the seconds Niall and her were in that room doing God knows what. Harry doesn’t want to think about it because Niall’s gone to boarding school and Harry _will_ get over him.

 

 

It’s about four months later when their mom and dad tell them that their dad, Des, won’t be staying with them anymore. Harry cries. Gemma sits in the corner and tells her dad that she loves him. The look on his face can’t even begin to explain the amount of sadness he’s feeling. His hands suddenly look too tiny to do so.

 

“We’ve decided to take a break due to some, issues, we’ve been facing.” Their mom says, and their dad smiles to look strong although Harry can see that there’s absolutely no sign of a smile on his inside.

 

“Are you leaving us?” Harry asks, and Anne shakes her head and says that she could never possibly do that to them. Harry doesn’t really know what to say.

 

“I’m going with dad.” Gemma says, and Harry shocks himself by agreeing.

 

Des shakes his head, “I think it’s safe if the two of you stay with your mom right now. We both need time apart and a mother does the job of raising her kids the best.

 

And then Harry’s dad leaves, and things take a month or two before everything goes back to normal.”

 

 

“Y’know, maybe if you spoke to me at least once you’d realize that nothing played out the way you thought you did.”Gemma says to Harry one night as she lays on her bed and he lays on hers.

 

“Oh, let me guess. You guys are getting married in two years? You have a promise ring hidden under your underwears in your closet or summat?” Harry snarls because he’s seen the messages, seen the look Gemma gave Harry as she went into the room with Niall. Knows she meant nothing innocent.

 

“It’s not like that! Me and Niall didn’t do anything because the idiot was way too busy talking about _you!_ I wouldn’t do something like that to you, not after I knew how you felt about him.” His heart stops. Then flutters.

 

Niall was thinking about him? Niall was talking about him?

 

Harry feels bad for dunking her toothbrush into the toilet now. He wonders how many guys she’s kissed with toilet water breath.

 

So that means Gemma and Niall didn’t do anything. That means Niall doesn’t like Gemma. Niall isn’t _Spaceboy._

 

Then who is?

“Who’s Spaceboy then?” Harry asks sheepishly, and Gemma turns red.

 

“Spaceboy isn’t _Niall,_ you dimwit. It’s Jaden. Spaceboy is just some new song he really likes.”

 

And oh. _Oh._ That makes so much more sense

 

 

 

It’s winter, and they’re messing about while making pancakes ( because Gemma said there was no way they weren’t having pancakes on Saturdays like this one, although this Saturday really wasn’t any different.

 

Gemma rushes to go to the bathroom and their mom is busy kneading dough for some more pie and turn over.

 

His mom actually looks like his mom. She’s actually in the room when she’s in the room and Harry wonders why it took their dad leaving for her to be normal again.

 

“Why didn’t you cook like this when dad was here?” That isn’t the only question he wants to ask.

 

She stops kneading. “I don’t know.” She says.

 

Someone taps at the window, and Harry pushes past Gemma – who bursts out the toilet – to see who it is and freezes in his tracks when he sees Niall _fucking_ Horan giving him the biggest smile he’s ever seen.

 

“I knocked.” He says nervously, and he looks so much different. His hair looks blond again, Harry supposes he re-dyed it, and he looks broader, and he notices that his arms have gotten more muscular. His Irish accent sounds deeper too.

 

 

Harry quickly lets Niall in, and he greets both Gemma and their mom. Mom says hi. Gemma smiles with her teeth full of pieces of pie. Harry wants to disappear because he probably looks like a grinning maniac.

 

“Weclome back.” His mom says, and wipes her hands on her apron. Niall nods and says, “Could smell your pies all the way from our house. We were practically drooling all over our cereal.”

 

 _Hot._ Harry thinks.

 

He takes a seat beside Harry, who hasn’t lifted his gaze off the Irish lad once and goes, “Don’t stare.”

 

Harry feels like a thousand degrees.

 

“You just look different, s’all.” Harry shrugs, and tries to play it off as nothing, though this difference in Niall is surely going to drive him mad.

 

“Me?” Niall says incredulously, “Look at you? You’ve gotten so much taller, and your voice doesn’t sound like Dipsy from the Teletubbies anymore.”

 

“Yeah man,” Harry says laughing, “I can actually see my toes now. They look like they’re in a different time zone.”

 

They both laugh at that. Niall looks at him like he wants to get out of here. Harry does too.

 

So they do. They run.

 

They’re running and laughing as they go across the street and into the woods though there isn’t anything to laugh about and they’re deep into the woods when Niall’s strong arm grabs Harry’s shirt and presses him up against a tree and kisses him so hard he goes _blind._

 

Harry freezes for a moment, and the all the colours are flooding back into his vision, into his body, and it’s like every single animal alive is beating inside his chest and he’s a mess of _redbluegreenyellowpurpleredbluegreenyellowpurple._ Harry feels all the stars in the sky they saw that night twinkling in him too, and Niall’s lips are just so, _so_ warm against his own.

 

“Fuck.” Niall breathes, “I’ve wanted to do that for so long, you have no idea.” Oh but Harry does.

 

“Please don’t stop.” Harry says and presses their lips together even harder, puts his warm hands which burn with the need to touch Niall because even though he’s kissing him so hungrily, it isn’t enough and Harry needs more from Niall. His hands slide up Niall’s torso underneath the confines of his shirt, and Niall gives Harry a delicious shiver in response. Harry nips at Niall’s bottom lip and tugs at it, which causes Niall to whimper his name in the quiet of the forest, which Harry doesn’t mind because Niall’s voice is the only one he wants to hear.

 

“Fuck, Haz.” Niall swears, slips his warm tongue into Harry’s mouth and presses closer till they are chest to chest, groin to groin and then he pulls away, and leaves Harry panting.

 

_Don’t do it. Don’t tell him you love him._

_But I do. I love him more than anything._

This right now, this is everything. This is the painting painting itself.

 

And that’s what Harry’s thinking when the asteroid comes crashing onto them.

 

“No one can know about this.” It takes Harry aback. He opens his mouth to speak but, “It’ll ruin everything. My athletic scholarship. I’m the assistant captain of the varsity team as a sophomore and I –”

 

Harry wants Niall to shut up. He wants Niall to be close to him again. He lifts Niall’s shirt up his head. Niall’s breath hitches. Their bare chests stick together from when Niall took his off earlier. Harry wants to be closer, so he presses their lips together once more. They fit perfectly. Harry kisses Niall slowly until the only word Niall can manage is his name.

 

Again.

 

And again.

 

And again till they’re two once broken hearts melting to become one. Together

 

“Don’t worry.” Harry breathes harshly, “No one’s going to find out.”

 

+

 

They’re laying on Harry’s bed now, and his hands are tangled in Niall’s hair and every part of him is burning with more want, and Niall’s pressing him down onto the bed and they’re kissing, they’re _them._

“We’re them.” Harry pulls apart just to say, and Niall raises an eyebrow in confusion.

 

“Who?” Niall says, but Harry doesn’t answer the question, doesn’t want Niall to know what he saw. He presses his lips to Niall’s again just so he can remember ever line and corner and curve of Niall’s lips, till he can feel the candy pink colour that drips from Niall’s lips every time he speaks.

 

“Yeah, we are.” Niall says, and Harry thinks that maybe he isn’t the only who saw the two men fall in love in front of his eyes.

 

“Y’know,” Niall says, pressing hot, feverish kisses onto Harry’s lips and neck and skin, running his hands over the expanse of Harry’s slightly toned chest, thumbing and pressing at everything he can feel just to get a reaction out of the younger boy.

 

It is then that his mom walks in the room he’s so very certain he locked on the way in, and says, “Harry! Your magazine came in the mail today and – oh. _Oh._ ”

 

And with that she walks out the room and shuts it, leaving me and Niall in the room.

 

+

 

She doesn’t act like it didn’t happen.

 

In fact, an hour prior to Niall leaving the house in a quick jump out the window because he was so certain that for some reason his mom was going to be the reason Niall lost his baseball scholarship, and told Harry about this one guy who came out at their school and was beaten and hidden in lockers, and people from the team would tell everyone he was sick so no one would bother looking for him.

 

Harry walks downstairs to see his mom, and she stops to look at him.

 

“Harry honey, I think we need to talk.”

 

Harry takes a seat on the dark brown leather couch, which has a warm orange throw on it. His hands are shaking and so is his heart.

 

“”Love is such a complicated thing, isn’t it?” I furrow my eyebrows.

 

Why does she say that? What does she mean?

 

“What you’re feeling is completely normal.” A giant _No_ screams at Harry from every single part of his head. Harry wants to scream. His mom has never been great at love, and suddenly she feels like she has the right to tell Harry how to find his? The feeling of being in a relationship is a feeling Harry has never noticed and Harry just can’t quite understand why his mom wants to take away this feeling before he’s had the chance to feel it  himself.

 

“It’s all your fault!” Harry screams, “Niall hates me told me we’re _over,_ and it’s all because of you!”

 

Harry’s mom widens her eyes a little bit at Harry’s minor outburst, and then furrows her eyebrows. “Harry,” she says calmly, “what is?”

 

“ _Everything!_ ” Harry screams his mind forming the words before he has a chance to think about what they are, “Don’t you see? You’ve ruined Dad. He’s at home staying up every night because he can’t get over you, crying over Discovery Channel while you just sit here and laugh around and look _happy._ How do you think that makes him feel? He barely even has any soul left in him thanks to you!”

 

“Harry, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Dad is slowly dying inside. He’s broke, mom, he’s like a shell with no turtle inside.”

 

Mom pauses. “I don’t think this is about Dad, is it? Do you feel like this sometimes too?”

 

Harry violently shakes his head, and his eyes are pooling with tears that just want to fallfallfall and he wants mom to disappear along with her memories of Niall and him in his bedroom together.

 

“I’m not asking about me. And you know what else? You’re not special. You can’t jump on clouds or walk through walls or conjure rainbows. You can’t now, and you never will.”

“Noah?”

“I always thought you were someone amazing. But you really aren’t. You’re just regular. And you don’t make anyone happy anymore. You make everyone miserable.”

 

His mom falls silent, and then lifts the face which was buried into his hands and wet with tears to look up at her. “Listen to me. It takes a lot of courage to be true to yourself, true to your heart. You have always been very brave that way and I pray you always will be. It’s your responsibility, Noah. Remember that.”

 

+

 

The next morning, though the sun doesn’t seem to be out yet, Harry wakes up in the morning in panic and anxiousness.

 

Mom just can’t tell Dad about what she saw yesterday. After seventeen long years he finally had a dad, and he absolutely cherished it. He wasn’t going to let his mom ruin that for him. Not one bit.

 

He walks up to his mother’s room, and knocks the door before stepping in. His mom is dressed in a pastel blue robe, and her eyes look puffy and red, as if she’d been crying the entire night. Was she crying because he’s gay? Was she really that embarrassed to have a son who simply wanted to love someone who wasn’t female?

 

“Hi honey.” His mom tries to act like she wasn’t crying, but her clumpy lashes and nasally tone gives her away. Harry’s face crumples.

 

“Mom, I don’t care if you hate me. Just don’t tell Dad. Please.” He says, _begs,_ for her to agree. He’s still extremely mad because at her for the day before because of how she tried to make her life an example for how he should lead his, when she clearly had no control over her own to begin with.

 

“Okay.” Her mom nods in response, and Harry absolutely can’t believe his ears. Reckons he forgot how to her after the sounds screaming at him began coming from the inside, and not the outside.

 

“Really?” Harry says, just to make sure because he was so sure the first thing she would do was tell his Dad. His broken, miserable Dad. She doesn’t need to wreck him more than she already had.

 

“Absolutely.” She says. “I already told you, it’s your own life. I’m not going to do anything to alter it. Make your own decisions.”

 

Harry simply nods and walks out his room. He really, _really_ wants to live with his Dad.

 

+

 

He’s walking back home from school, nobody’s really spoken to him the entire day because as soon as Niall and him stopped talking it’s like him and the hornets have stopped talking too. He’s gone from being a lion to being the lion’s meat. Just like that.

 

He’s about to take a turn home before he hears laughter. Loud continuous laughter that strings on and on, joined by a quiet, more girlish giggle. Harry knows that first sound of laughter anywhere.

 

He follows the sound to another opening, the opening to the forest, Harry realizes, and sees Niall and Rachel walking hand and hand toward the forest. Niall even has his meteorite bag on him. Harry feels tears spring to his eyes. Niall’s laughing his genuine, wholesome laugh, and Harry notices that there’s a stain of pink lipstick smeared across Niall’s lips. That means, that could only mean that he _kissed Rachel._ He broke Harry’s heart right after making it, he should’ve known that things take time to dry and stiffen before you can try to push at them because otherwise they just come crumbling back down, and before he knows it, Niall’s turning around and pressing the lips that Harry once felt belonged to him against Rachel’s and he’s breaking Harry’s heart over and over and over, like once just wasn’t enough for him. If Harry wasn’t as in love with Niall as he knew Niall was with him, he would have easily assumed that the two of them were in love. That doesn’t make Harry feel better, the fact that Niall seemed so at ease even though he was stabbing a knife through Harry at the same time. They look happy.

 

Before Harry even knows what he’s doing, he runs towards the two of them, sees Niall pull away with a confused expression. Harry has tears streaming down his face rapidly.

 

“Rachel, you can’t do that! Niall Horan is gay!”

 

Niall’s face slides off his face. It pales even more than the pale colour is usually is. His eyes go stone cold. The fire in Harry’s eyes is doing a good job at melting it, however. Harry thinks he may have pushed at Niall’s heart before it completely had a chance to  heal too.

 

“What? But I thought-” Rachel looks at Niall’s face to see if this is all a joke, but the look on Niall’s face gives him away, “I hadn’t realized. Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

And then Harry’s running back home and he’s still running and running and crying and every part of him is screaming at him, so he reaches home and sleeps and sleeps until there’s nothing else to do but stay awake.

 

+

 

“I don’t know what to do.” Harry feels like crying one night, when he’s told Gemma everything he’s done, how he hurt Niall in the worst way possible.

 

Well maybe not the worst way, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but still. He hurt him. That’s all that counts.

 

“You fucked up, I’ll give you that,” Gemma says, purses her lips and tries not to laugh when Harry scowls at her and gives her a stern look from his tired eyes, “But think about it. There are so many ways you can apologize to him. Apologies don’t only happen verbally. Maybe you could _show_ him that you love him? You are in love with him – aren’t you?”

 

Harry nods because he is, always has been. Doesn’t think he can stop now even if he tried.

 

“Then show him you love him, draw something for him maybe?”

 

And yeah, Harry reckons he might do just that.

 

He only hopes it works enough to get Niall back.

 

+

 

18 years old

 

A week later, Niall is back to boarding school. It’s been two months now, and the hornets still don’t talk to him, apart from Xanthie, though Harry supposes she kind of knows she isn’t liked by Harry in the same way as she likes him.

 

Harry knows Niall’s going to be back for spring break. Knows how scared Niall must be because of what Harry’s done that could quite possibly ruin every single thing Niall’s worked for.

 

Harry’s been working like crazy over these series of drawings for Niall. The boy seems to be driving him crazy even when he isn’t there. He’s always had that effect on Harry and he hates the way it still effects him now.

 

He sends him all the ones he’s done on _LostConnections_ because they’re the only way he can explain what he feels. They’re all sent with some letter of some sort, and he’s almost done with his last one when his Dad knocks at his door.

 

“Picasso,” he mumbles short and quiet, with a small smile on his face, “me and Gemma are going near the woods for a bit. We’ll be leaving in about half an hour, so we just wanted to let you know. You in?” Harry nods, his Dad shuts the door.

 

Harry began living with his Dad after his mom came and told him, along with Gemma and their father that she had found someone else to love. Harry spent the entire ten minutes after that yelling at how much he hated her, for everything, for breaking the family apart, for always putting her own needs in front of everyone else’s, every single time. Their Dad asked her to bring their stuff by and then leave.

 

Harry gets back to adding the finishing touches of his picture, before titling it in his messy cursive writing-

 

_PORTRAIT: Two Boys Racing into Brightness_

Harry inhales and opens a text box, choosing to write a letter along with it too.

 

_4:23 p.m_

_I’m not very good with words, if you haven’t noticed, so that automatically makes me feel like I’m ten times worse at apologies, although I’ve played out every single apology possible at the back and front and sides of my head. I could recite – well mind-speak – the words to you, if you asked me to._

_I decided to write this because I figured, drawing is something I’ve grown so accustomed to that I can do it with feelings and without. I could draw a hundred movements of your eye and it would mean nothing, but I rarely write, and you mean a lot to me. You can put the pieces together, it isn’t that shocking, really._

_The day in the woods when you kissed me, it made me feel like I was on fire. I never felt like I was home, my bed didn’t feel like home, nor did my carpet or my closet or my clothes. You made me feel like I was at home with every single touch you sent me. You made me feel like I was even more infinite than the all the constellations and galaxies in the world._

_I never meant to break you, but all along I wondered if you ever meant to break me the way you did, too. I would have never guessed that you wanted to kiss me, because you never really showed it. I was so sure you wanted to be with Rachel, why wouldn’t anyone? And if you wanted to know – just by any chance – the person I was kissing when I was kissing Xanthie wasn’t really Xanthie. I was you. Everything I am, everything I feel, is all because of you. The way you kissed and talked to everyone else made me feel so insignificant, I was so certain you didn’t want anything to do with me – until you kissed me._

_I’m sorry. I’m sorry I truly am. The voices in my head haven’t stopped blaming me for everything I’ve done, for everything I’ve caused. I know I was wrong, I know that I hurt you. I know that I hurt my mother when I told her I hated her because she wanted to stop me from loving you. From falling in love with you. She couldn’t._

_Because she isn’t with me now, and I am so deeply in love with you, that I’ve left broken pieces of me in the forest and on your rooftop and everywhere you made me feel alive because you’re the only thing that makes me feel so._

_I’ve been drawing (because that’s all I’m good at since I mess up at falling in love too) and drawing and drawing pictures for you because there’s no other way I feel like I’m sane, because I can’t describe myself in any other way._

_I feel like even 10,000 words won’t make up for the amount of pain I’ve caused you, and I’m extremely sorry. I am.”_

_My mom has done a ton of wrong things in her life, but one thing she told me that actually helped me was to start accepting myself and taking responsibility for my own actions. So here is me, taking responsibility for my actions by apologizing to you and telling you I love you, because there isn’t really anything else I can tell you, really._

_My dad and Gemma are going to the beach. I know you’re here for spring break. I truly am sorry. Meet me there in an hour if you want me to apologize._

_If not,_

_I’m in love with you, goodbye._

_Harry S._

Harry presses ‘send’, and bites and scratches at his nails as he waits for a response from the boy he promised he’d never say he’s in love with.

 

He’s about twenty one minutes through sitting on his chair and staring at the once happy boys drawn onto paper and giving up, when a message pops up from Niall.

_I’ll be there._

 

Harry’s palms are sweating, and he’s been waiting at the tree they kissed under. It’s only been five minutes but it’s five minutes of Niall not being here yet and Harry already wants to cry. He barely even notices the first tear stream down his cheek.

 

“Harry?”

 

He snaps his head up to meet Niall’s gaze, firm but concerned at the same time, like he isn’t sure if he should be mad at Harry or worried about him. It makes his heart melt.

 

Niall look slightly older. His arms seem to continuously gain muscle, probably due to the amount of baseball he must be playing during his final year of boarding school. His brunet roots are now visible, and he looks so real, and so beautiful it makes Harry’s heart melt.

 

“Niall.” Harry swallows. “How are you.”

“Great, actually.” Niall shrugs, “You?”

 

Harry chuckles, but it’s rather humorless, and says, “Miserable. It’s okay though. I kind of deserve it. I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have said anything to Rachel. I  know I should’ve been careful of my mom. I know there’s a lot of things I have to apologize for but I’m never apologizing for falling in love with you. Ever.”

 

Niall’s face crumbles at that, and he’s not even giving Harry time to continue his explanation before he’s also crying and running to hug Harry so tight he thinks he might die. Harry presses against him and finally, _finally_ lets his tears fall, both of them not caring about the fact that they’re wetting the others’ clothing.

 

“I missed you so much Harry. I didn’t come here for you to apologize. I came here because I missed you and I’m-” he cuts himself off and pulls away to look at Harry, and Harry pulls away to see the stars that brighten the day in Niall’s eyes.

 

“You’re what, Niall?” Harry says, though he’s pretty sure he already knows Niall’s answer.

 

 

“I’m in love with you too. I’m so in love with you. Rachel has nothing on you, never had and never will. Every time I kissed her, all I could think about was you. I’m in love with _you, silly boy._ ”

 

Harry starts to cry again and pulls Niall in for a searing kiss, their teeth clashing and fingers intertwining on both sides. Harry feels his heart fix itself back up again. The pieces he left here and on Niall’s rooftop are now diamonds glistening in the daylight.

 

“ _IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou._ ” Harry mumbles against Niall’s lips.

 

“Please never stop saying that. Say you’ll always love me.”

“I don’t think there’s anything else I could do.”

 

 

It turns out, Niall ended up coming out to the entire baseball academy, and they didn’t react the way they did with locker boy. They all patted him on the back and raised their hats a little with grins. Their coach simply smiled. He talked about how more people started coming out thanks to him, and how he didn’t have to worry about loving Harry anymore. The thought of Harry loving him made his heart swell.

 

They both walked out the forest with swollen lips and interlaced hands, to where Harry’s dad and Gemma were in view. Niall looked at them and quickly pulls his hands away. Harry grabs it and intertwines it again. Niall’s face breaks into a heart-crushing smile.

 

“Oh.” Harry’s dad says, “Oh I see. I didn’t realize. I thought – y’know – Xanthie. But this makes so much more sense.”

 

“It does.” Gemma smiles, looking at the two boys fall in love just like Harry saw the boys fall in love at the party.

 

But Harry’s happy. He’s in love with a beautiful boy named Niall Horan, he finally has his sister back, just like he has his Dad.

 

He reckons he doesn’t need anything else. He has everything he needs.

 

+

 

_Quick, make a wish._

_Take a (second or third or fourth) chance._

_Remake the world._

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first ever 10,000 word book! i can't believe i reached 5,000 words to begin with haha.
> 
> comments and kudos are extremely appreciated x


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